Writers Strike Darkens Most TV Character Blogs

Posted on December 3, 2007

There are many blogs written by striking WGA writers such as United Hollywood and LateShowWritersonStrike.com. But what about all those character blogs that were written by WGA members? They have gone dark and they will stay that way as long as the WGA writers who wrote them remain on strike. A Wired post has comments from an entertainment attorney who says WGA members are prohibited from blogging on these fictional blogs.

For example, as reported here by Jenna Wortham, a Battlestar Galactica-related blog written by series executive producer Ronald D. Moore discusses Moore's work, his thoughts on the strike, the status of his show, etc. Moore manages to steer clear from discussing the creative aspects of BSG in any detail -- a sensible move if you consider he could violate strike rules if he did.
According to Jonathan Handel, entertainment attorney, "A TV show's fictional blog is just 'an extension of the same show,' and the writing (by a WGA member) is therefore prohibited."

A good question here is have any of these tv character blogs been updated since the strike began? The WGA writers are on strike so they aren't available to update the blogs. The Wired article says showrunners aren't supposed to update them. Dwight Schrute (The Office) hasn't updated his blog since November 22nd. Nurse Debbie (Grey's Anatomy) has been quiet since late October. There's been nothing on Barney's Blog> from How I Met Your Mother since November 5th. Hiro's blog (Heroes) seems to be having difficulties. Dr. Robin Scorpio General Hospital) does have a fairly recent post - November 29th. Split Reflections - the blog for One Life to Live's dual personality character Jess and Tess - has some posts that were written last week. It's possible some posts could have been written pre-strike to go along with the scripts.